Make Use of Stereotypes - Then Break Them Down
Though Samir Nasr speaks German without an accent, his name and appearance betray his non-German origins: the 37-year-old director Samir Nasr attended the German film school "Tripolis" in Libya and the German Protestant Secondary School in Cairo. After several prizewinning documentaries (including "Nachttanke" (Night Service Station) and "leben 16" (life 16), in 2004 he filmed "Folgeschäden" (Resultant Damages) for television, based on a screenplay by Florian Hanig.
His most recent film "Resultant Damages" not only captivated thousands of viewers and many film critics, the screenwriter also received the ARD Media Prize CIVIS 2005 for best screenplay.
In your film, Tariq is an Algerian scientist who is suddenly suspected of having contact with Islamist terrorist circles. Distrust grows between the once-happy husband and wife, ultimately destroying their relationship. What were your reasons for making this film? Did you intend to link politics and aesthetics or to promote dialogue between different cultures?
Samir Nasr: "Resultant Damages" was a production commissioned by SWR, Arte and BR – in other words, these stations first wanted to make the film. I read the first draft of the screenplay and liked the idea. After working on the screenplay for half a year, we came up with a 6th draft that incorporated many changes.
In general, I'm intrigued by stories that show the consequences that politics have for normal people. I'm interested in using images to show how historical events affect the people next door. I was fascinated by the story of "Resultant Damages" in particular because it beautifully summed up all the paranoia and all the hysteria that is rampant in Germany at the moment. In this story mistrust goes so far that it sows doubts in a very happy relationship, almost completely destroying love.
Is the story based on personal experience? Did you know someone like Tariq, the film's main character?
Nasr: The story is based on an actual incident that happened in Hamburg, where the German criminal police approached a German bookseller who was married to an Arab man. I have to say, though, that Tariq isn't the main character, it's his wife, Maya. When we were working on the screenplay we kept realizing that it's actually the story of the German wife, Maya, not the other way around.
Was that because you wanted to give the German viewers someone to identify with?
Nasr: After working on the screenplay for a while we realized that it wouldn't have been as interesting to tell the story from Tariq's point of view. Then the statement of the film would have been that the man was innocent, that society tormented him and everyone abandoned him. By choosing Maya's point of view we go one step further. Because basically we show how a mechanism like that comes about and how it works.
That's the main reason why we chose her as the main character. Because the viewer goes through the same process of development as she does. And not just while watching the film, either, perhaps in everyday life as well, if he has a neighbor who is somehow "acting funny". At the end of the film, if the viewers are a little bit ashamed that they let their prejudices run wild, that would make me very happy.
But that presupposes a pretty mistrustful social climate.
Nasr: I sense this kind of atmosphere every day. A month ago I was in Cologne to take part in a discussion after the screening of my film. During the screening I waited in a café next to the cinema. When I went to the bathroom, I asked two older ladies at the next table to watch my bag. When I came back, the bag was gone. The women acted somewhat sheepish and said that my bag was at the bar. Then the waitress came up, red in the face, and said, "The ladies went into a panic because you left your bag there". That's the climate I'm talking about. It's a climate you can experience every day, as a non-German, of course.
The screenplay was written by a German – what did you change?
Nasr: In the first draft of the screenplay, Tariq was a Pakistani. But I said from the start that for me it's a story that has to do with Arabs. I had the feeling that after September 11 the Arabs were more under fire than the Pakistanis. Reza, the Iranian doctor who got his degree in Germany and returned to Iran to run a hospital, was initially a bad guy, a radical Muslim who wants to show Tariq the "right path" and keeps telling him that Western society is corrupt. But I didn't want to work with this cliché. All the changes were made in cooperation with the screenwriter, though.
You do in fact present a differentiated picture of the Muslims, Tariq and Reza. Was it hard to convince the Germans involved?
Nasr: Actually, no. I find it very interesting to use the clichés in order to turn them on their heads. My film also has a lot of clichés that we played with, pictures that the viewers usually see in the news. As soon as radical Muslims are spoken of, you show men at their Friday prayers. In Germany the mere sight of a man praying makes people apprehensive.
In the film there's a scene in which Maya walks in on the guest, Reza, when he is praying. In a normal context this scene would not have been problematic, but in this context it creates the impression that after praying he might set a bomb. The media have cultivated these clichés for years. We played with these clichés too, as well as the clichés of the "sleeper" and the terrorist. The fact that Tariq turns out not to be one is compelling.
In the prayer scene the nudity of the wife, Maya, is also unusual!
Nasr: That shows how insensitive Maya is. She is also to blame for many things. For example, that in all these years she never dealt with this issue. It's a relationship in which the issue of religion didn't matter at first, because Tariq is really a very Western Muslim. In relationships like that people say, "You're a Muslim and I'm a Christian, but that's not a problem". Maya and Tariq didn't notice that they do actually differ in this respect until after September 11. What divides them is religion. That emerged in many relationships after September 11.
Do you have any use for a term such as "Islamism"?
Nasr: I find "Islamism" to be a very difficult term. I think Islamism is a tendency like all the other radical tendencies we see today all over the world. We see it in Judaism and Christianity too. At the moment we are seeing a strong trend toward radicalization and isolationism in countries all over the world. Islamism may be a special form, because at the moment it behaves much more aggressively toward the outside world and of course is perceived as a greater threat by the Western world.
But we are talking from the Western perspective now. For the Palestinians the radical settlers are just as much of a threat. I see a danger in this Islamism, but it is less a danger for the West than for the societies that are regressing, isolating themselves and forgoing the opportunity to develop. That has a lot to do with a lack of freedom, with fear and poverty.
Without in any way defending people who use violence, for me this Islamism is actually a very desperate reaction on the part of societies and individuals who are extremely hopeless, who have no prospects in life and take refuge in this one sole truth. When people become so fanatical and radicalized, often the circumstances they live in are simply not fit for human beings.
What effect did the events of September 11 have on your film career?
Nasr: Not a negative one! Suddenly you're regarded as an expert, and you get work commissioned on the issue, as in the case of "Resultant Damages". But there is also a great danger of getting reduced to this role. Of becoming "the talking head" on these issues. That's why it is very important to make efforts to change. I've noticed that you are very suddenly defined as belonging to another culture. But I combine both inside myself.
Isn't that the same phenomenon that's seen in the "immigrant cinema" scene in Germany? Does this cinema place more value on "authenticity", even if its characteristics are also defined by Westerners, or more on the artistic aspects?
Nasr: Immigrant cinema – again, that's a too-broad collective term I don't have much use for, because the films are very different and simply can't be categorized under this label. If your standard is that immigrant cinema must make a contribution toward the "peaceful coexistence of people of different origins", you are often disappointed, and rightly so.
Probably we perceive immigrant cinema just as wrongly as Arab or Middle Eastern cinema is perceived in the West, because these films are seen first of all as a sociological statement. You rarely read people talking about the film or the style and aesthetics of the film. But a film is first and foremost a work of art, not an essay or a political message.
Has your film been shown in Arab countries?
Nasr: "Resultant Damages" will be shown in the competitive sector of the Cairo International Film Festival in late November. But officially the film has not been shown in any Arab country so far.
What is your next film about?
Nasr: My next project is the filming of a novel by the great Egyptian writer Sonallah Ibrahim. The novel is called SHARAF, a man’s name which also means "honor". It's the story of a young man who ends up in prison due to an unfortunate accident. The entire film is set in prison, and uses this microcosm to brilliantly reflect conditions in Egyptian society, with a great deal of black humor. But it is also about the effects of globalization and world politics.
Interview: Fahimeh Farsaie
Translation from German: Isabel Cole
© Qantara.de 2006
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